Reviews: (by author)

Alexander, Lloyd. The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha. Puffin Books, 1978. $4.99. ISBN 0-1413-0057-4.

Alexander's fantasy, set, like The Distance of Hope and The Thief, in a Persian-Central Asian-feeling time, is enjoyable reading, but less interesting because of conventional frame into which he puts his story, thereby constraining the hero, who is a flippant charmer. This character winds up in his story because of a magician's trick, not of his own accord--that's fine, that happens a lot. But at the outset of the adventure both the hero and the readers are told that the trick will revert--the old plot twist of being wakened from your dream, or having the witch's potion wear off, or the magician yank the hero's chain and bring him back to where he started--usually reluctantly. So the suspense in this kind of plot is not what will happen, but when will it happen. Alexander uses a third-person narrator most engagingly because his dialog is lively and the settings are so vivid.

Recommended reading level: Age 11-14

Reviewed by Alida Allison

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